Out Loud

A Father Comes Around

My attitude about what Women of the Wall were trying to achieve was something very personal. You see, my daughter is Anat Hoffman (née Weiss), the leader of the movement.

At the outset, I confess, I was very ambivalent. Why go to all this trouble just to make it possible for women to read aloud from the Torah at the Kotel? Israeli women have more important battles to fight, I told her. Once, I was at the Kotel as a spectator when a policeman dragged Anat away by one leg, her skirt up around her waist.

But that was many years ago. Anat stuck it out. Braving the calumny of incensed Haradim, she and her little band were at the Kotel at 7 in the morning every Rosh Hodesh come rain or shine. It is thanks to their perseverance, with an assist from organizations like NIF, that their cause has been recognized and given a place at the Kotel.

But this only is partly a victory for Women of the Wall. The struggle that they fought and won was a victory for women's rights in every area in Israel. It has ramifications on the shameful practice of agunot, husbands who simply refuse to grant a divorce to a wife who wants out of the marriage. Essentially, it is a breach in the Haredi monopoly over what women can and cannot do.

Charles Weiss made aliya in 1949 and lived in Israel till 1991 working mostly as a journalist. His four children, of whom Anat is the oldest daughter, all live in Israel. He is retired and lives in New York.